A second degree murder charge has been approved against a 38-year-old man following a fatal stabbing at Port Place Shopping Centre in late January. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

fatal stabbing

Murder charge laid in connection to Port Place stabbing

Feb 3, 2023 | 12:33 PM

NANAIMO — A man is facing a murder charge following a fatal stabbing outside downtown Nanaimo’s Port Place Shopping Centre.

Sean Carl John Patterson, 38, will answer to a second degree murder charge in relation to the death of Serguei Chiliakhov on Jan. 22.

RCMP alleged Patterson fatally stabbed Chiliakhov in the parking lot of the shopping centre around 7 p.m., triggering a considerable police presence.

Officers said at the time the victim was taken to hospital where he died of his injuries, while a suspect was arrested later the same evening.

Patterson remains in custody and is due to appear in court on Feb. 16. The charge against him was formally approved by the BC Prosecution Service on Thursday, Feb. 2.

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He has no prior criminal record in B.C.

Online speculation after the incident suggested the victim was a security guard at Port Place, however police said the information was inaccurate.

It’s also not clear what relationship there was between Patterson and Chiliakhov, or what led to the incident.

Two days following the incident Nanaimo RCMP reached out to the public requesting anybody with area video during the minutes prior and after the incident to come forward to police.

Chiliakhov’s death marks the first homicide of the year in Nanaimo.

The incident is the latest in a consistent run of violent crime in the Nanaimo area over the past couple of years.

Charges have been laid in five of the nine homicides to occur in Nanaimo since March 2021.

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